My home away from home

Here are just a few pictures of where I've been living for the past three months! Sorry it's taken me so long to put them up!!

Well, this is it. We will be leaving the Artemis for the last time in about 7 hours. Our group will fly to Amsterdam and from there begin our journey! Please pray for the 5 of us (Me, Lacey, Lauren, Ashton, and Dani) as well as the rest of our group as we embark on this next leg of our incredible journey! Because that is what it has been. Nothing short of incredible! I just want to thank each and every one of you for all of your love and support of me throughout the last few months of my life! I can't wait to see you all in 2 weeks! I love you all so much!

Free travel itinerary: Fly from Athens to Amsterdam - Train from Amsterdam to Berlin - Berlin to Munich - Munich to Salzburg - Salzburg to Venice - Venice to Rome - Rome to Bern - Bern to Interlaken - Interlaken to Barcelona - Barcelona to Paris - Fly from Paris to Dublin - Dublin to Cork - Cork to Dublin - Dublin to Amsterdam - Amsterdam to Minneapolis- Minneapolis to ALBUQUERQUE !!!!!! (all in 2 weeks, my friends).














Vicky at her desk!




















The entryway with the phonebooth



















The piano room



















The living room














The pool



















The patio in the backyard!














The basketball court!



















The dining room!














The breakfast/tea/coffee bar!



















My (messy) bedroom! :)



















View from outside my window

Time to say good-byes...

This semester has been one of the best experiences of my life and I have been so blessed to have been able to spend the past 3 months here in the wonderful place. The relationships I have formed and the things that I have seen and learned will be with me for the rest of my life. It feels like just yesterday that was sitting in the Amsterdam airport (all by myself) and I saw all of these people and was absolutely petrified. I didn't really know anyone and was terrified when I saw all of these little groups of friends. Oh, how things change! These people that I was once afraid to speak to have become my closest friends and I am so grateful for everything that they have done for me!
As much as Harding frustrates me sometimes, Ashton nailed it right on the head when she said, "This semester has opened my eyes to the blessings it (Harding) gives. I have friends from all over the U.S. I know that, years from now, if I need a house to stay in for the night or a lunch date in a random state, I have several people that I will be able to call on. It has provided me with other college students who share a love for God and know how to have a blast without throwing their morality out the window. I see some of my public university friends who have changed completely and it makes me thank God for girls who want to make stupid videos at 2 a.m. instead of get drunk, for guys that hold each other accountable instead of partying it up every weekend, and for teachers who genuinely care about your soul and well-being." Well said, Ash. Harding has blessed me with the best friends I could have ever asked for. It has also opened my eyes to a world that I have only ever read about before. I will miss our girls tea-time every Wednesday night. That time became a safe haven for me. It was a place where we could go and just have girl time. We would talk about anything and everything whether happy or sad. DiMy has become like a mom away from mom for all of us girls here and it will be tough to say good-bye to her as well.
I am going to miss the Artemis, Porto Rafti, and Athens but most of all I will miss these 42 other people who have been my world for the past 3 months. Thinking back on my semester it seems almost too good to be true. Its like the past 3 months have been a dream. Please pray for all of us as we make this transition back into the "real world." We send off our first group of free travelers this afternoon and I'm sure it will be a very tearful good-bye. Please pray for all of us as we travel around Europe! I love you!

***I'll post again before we leave on Friday!!

I've finished finals now its time for the CRUISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So the past week has probably been one of the most hectic weeks of my young life. Not really, but when you live in Greece and are more interested in going outside and playing then you are of studying it can make life pretty stressful! Well, we had our last day of classes last Saturday so that meant that this week was... dun dun dun.... FINALS! We had our biggest final yesterday (that pretty much turned my brain into mush) and after taking the afternoon off to re-coup I began to study for my other two finals. Today I had music apprec (which I aced by the way!) and Greek (which pretty much kicked my butt, but technically I could fail it and still keep my A!). It is such a relief to be finished with all of my classes and now I am ready to move on to my next big adventure!
Tonight we had our end of the year banquet. Most of us dressed up in togas (yeah, I know the toga is a Roman thing, oh well! haha) and we pretty much had a party! The dining room was all decorated and we had a special meal prepared by our wonderful chef, Fofi! It was so much fun to just relax and know that we didn't have any studying to do! After dinner we all got superlatives and watched a slide show of pictures from the whole semester. It brought back a lot of memories. Memories from our trip to Egypt and our travels around Greece. All of those seem like a lifetime ago but at the same time it feels like it was just yesterday that I was standing by the pyramids and cruising the Nile! This semester has been more of a blessing to me than I realize right now and I am not ready to leave my home here in Porto Rafti just yet but I know that my time here is coming to an end. The Artemis has been my home for the past three months and I know that I will not only miss this place but I will miss the people more than anything. I will miss being just a few doors down from my sisters (its gonna be weird to go back to being the only girl my age for awhile). I will miss being able to walk through the dining room and always find someone who wants to go outside and hit the volleyball around or who wants to play spades. This semester I have formed some of the best friendships with some of the most awesome people that I have ever met and they have been such a blessing to me. I have loved being just a few minutes walk from the beach (don't get much of that in NM). And I will miss the big bowls of fresh strawberries (yes mom, strawberries!) that Fofi sets out for us everyday. The things that I have been able to see and experience will be with me for the rest of my life and I thank God everyday for allowing me to be here.
Tomorrow morning we leave for our three day cruise of the Greek islands. We will go to Mykonos, Rhodes, and Patmos as well as Ephesus in Turkey! Pray for our safety on this trip and also pray for the next few weeks. We will all be leaving for free travel next week and it is going to be hard to say bye to people as they leave. I don't have our free travel schedule in front of me so I don't remember exactly where we're going but I'll put it up when I get it! Thank you all so much for all of your love and support and I can't wait to see you in a few weeks! I love you!

Lighting of the torch, service day, and last day in Athens (aka- day of spontaneity)

So I know I haven't finished blogging about Jerusalem but I had to turn in my journal so as soon as I get it back I'll finish that trip! Well, the past week has been pretty awesome! Along with finishing up classes and soaking up the most I can of Greece while I still have the chance to do so, last Sunday (3/30) we had the opportunity, after celebrating Dani's birthday, to walk down to the Olympic stadium to watch the Olympic torch be passed over to the Chinese officials. It was really cool to be able to see something like that in person! There was a marching band (brought back some good 'ol HS memories!), the guards made an entrance, there was a choir and some dancers, and then the runner of the torch! It was a lot of fun!
Then last Tuesday (4/1), April fools day started right at midnight for us! We got some pretty good pranks in before dawn and it only got better throughout the day! :) Tuesday was also our day of service. My group got to help DiMy plant flowers and weed the back yard! Yes, I was a gardener for a day! I had mud on my clothes, on my face, and in between my toes! It was so much fun!
Yesterday was our last day in Athens. It was a bittersweet feeling saying goodbye to the metro and the bus stop. As we walked around the Plaka for the last time we all talked about all the memories that had been made walking down its streets and while we passed by places we had gone and things we had seen we turned into a very somber crew... that is until I saw a case of earrings. We were in a little store and I saw a case of earrings/nose rings/other rings for piercing. Well, I decided that I wanted to leave Athens with a bang so I.........


























Pierced my nose! Thats right... I did it! It looks really good too! You can't really tell in the pictures but its a light blue and its so cute! The first picture is me freaking out before he did it and the other one is the finished product! (See mom, I told you it would be small!)

Jerusalem- The Garden Tomb

Thursday, March 20, 2008
This morning we crossed back over the border to Israel. Abner and Ghader were both waiting for us at the bus station when we got back! We then drove from the border straight to Jerusalem. As we began our ascent into the mountains surrounding Jerusalem we started singing. We sang "Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross" and "As the Deer" and finally as we were about to make the final stretch into the city we sang "As the Mountains Surround Jerusalem." The feeling I got as we sang those songs while coming into the city was definitely God giving me a little taste of what else he had in store for me. The first thing we did was visit the Garden Tomb. This is the non-traditional site of the place where Jesus was buried. The traditional site is on the Via Dolorosa. While there we there sat as a group and read the different accounts of Jesus' burial and were able to sing and pray together. What really made this place awesome for me was the different people that were around us. While we were singing our songs in English, there was a group that was singing in French, and there was another group singing in their native Nigerian language. It hit me right then and there that it didn't matter if we were at the actual place where He was buried. It only mattered that He was buried and that He rose again and that the tomb, wherever it may be, is empty.

Friday, March 22, 2008
This morning we started our day by visiting the Whol Rose Garden. This garden houses over 127 different types of roses and is surrounded by all of the different Parliament buildings. Because of it's central location people come here a lot to protest. When we were in the garden there was a group of people who had been protesting and camping out in the garden for over a year. They were parents who were unfit to take care of their children so the government took them away. The parents have taken this and decided that the government has taken their children to be used for military services and are now protesting to get them back. After this we went to the Israel Museum. It is the museum that has all of the original copies of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Outside of the museum there is a model of what the old city of Jerusalem would have looked like with the temple. After this we went to Kerem which is where John the Baptist is believed to have lived.

Jordan, here I come!

Tuesday, March 18, 2008
This morning we drove to the border of Israel and Jordan. In order to cross the border we had to unload all of our bags, go through passport control, have our bags searched, get a new guide, bus driver, and bus, and then proceed onto the rest of Jordan. Once across the border we met Gamil, our tour guide. He was definitely no Abner but we'll take what we can get. Our group is the first HUG group ever to get to go to Jordan so it was as much of an adventure to us as it was to Captain and DiMy. The first place we went was Mt. Nebo. This the mountain that Moses went to for God to show him the promised land before he died. Had the day been a little bit clearer we would have been able to see the Dead Sea, Jericho, the Jordan River, and the mountains around Jerusalem. Unfortunately it was incredibly hazy so we couldn't see very far but it was still cool to imagine what Moses would have been able to see before he died. Next we went to St. George Church. This church has a mosaic of the oldest map of the Holy Lands that we have. We drove to Amman and spent the night there and guess what we got...... DR PEPPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was diet but really, was I in any position to be picky? :)

Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Today we got to go to the ancient city of Petra. For those Indiana Jones fans out there, this is where they shot the scene in the Last Crusade where they ride the horses through the cliffs to the big temple that is carved into the rock. The city of Petra is an entire city carved into the rocks. It dates back to the 4th century BC and was the capital of the Navadim Kingdom. It was home to 40,000 people and was 19 square miles. We walked up and looked at all of the facades that are still left in the rock and the temples and tombs that are still there. We were then given free time to walk back down and explore the city. That night we stayed in a hotel close to Petra. Sara, my roommate, and I were sitting in the room watching some TV before dinner when all of the sudden we heard loud explosions coming from outside. We looked at each other for a second and then the panic set in. She and I both hit the floor and debated whether or not to crawl to the window and see what was happening. Well, after a few minutes on the floor we crept over the windowsill and pulled up the curtains. You know what it was? .... FIREWORKS! We thought that we were being bombed but instead it was flippin' fireworks... really people? haha! It made for some fun stories at the dinner table though! We head for Jerusalem tomorrow. We'll be there for the remainder of our trip and I am so excited to see this city!!

Jordan definitely wasn't my favorite part of the trip but it was still really cool to see everything! I am so blessed!

On Jordan's Stormy Banks I Stand (Israel 1)

We just got back from Israel on Monday night and it was by far the best trip of my life! I learned and experienced so many new things that changed me and helped me grow so much spiritually and emotionally. The things that I saw will definitely be with me for the rest of my life. We had some hard times and things got stressful but we all worked together and pulled together as a group and made it through.

Friday, March 14, 2008
We left this morning for Israel! At the airport we went through some of the toughest security that I've ever had to go through. They took Captain and DiMy and asked them questions about why we were going to Israel and what we were going to be doing there, etc. And then they pulled us each aside one at a time and asked us the same questions and then compared our answers. It was pretty intense! When we got to the airport in Israel we were met by possibly the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my life. It was hilarious to see all of the girls faces as soon as each of us saw him. When we were told that he was not going to be our tour guide but was instead just a rep from the travel agency, lets just say that we weren't happy! haha! Well, we got on the bus and met our real tour guide, Abner (pronounced Avner) and our bus driver Ghader and then made our way to our first stop. The first place we went was Caesarea Maritima. This is the place where Paul was imprisoned before going to Rome. This is also the place where the stone that has the name "Pontious Pilate" was found. This is the only proof that we have that Pilate was a real person other than his mention in the Bible. This is a seaside town so we were given time at the end to go down to the beach and hang out for a bit before heading to the hotel!

Saturday, March 15, 2008
Today was awesome! We started our day with a nature hike up to the ancient city of Dan. It was absolutely gorgeous! We took time to sit down by the Dan Spring and talk about all of the different times in the Bible that the city of Dan is mentioned and we got time to just soak up everything! When we were sitting by the spring I kept thinking about Psalms 1--

"He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not whither. Whatever he does prospers."

Sitting by this spring that flows into the Jordan river really helped me to understand some of the imagery in the Psalms. It was so calm and peaceful and beautiful. It was a wonderful way to start the day. After lunch we got to go to the Jordan River (Jordan, I got to see the place you were named for!!!!)!! We stood at its banks and sang and prayed. It was so peaceful and I started trying to imagine all of the different things that had happened there. I looked to a part of the river and imagined the Israelites carrying the Ark of the Covenant across on dry land. I imagined Jesus walking down to the bank and talking to John and then being baptized. I then looked up to the sky and imagined the Heavens opening up and hearing God's voice coming down "This is my son. With him I am well pleased." I know that the water in the river is constantly moving and changing but while standing in it, I couldn't help but be humbled knowing that Jesus had been there.

Sunday, March 16, 2008
This morning a few of us got up early and walked down to the Sea of Galilee (our hotel was right by the beach) to watch the sunrise. It was gorgeous! I am so blessed to be able to see and experience all of these wonderful things. Once again, as I looked out over the water, I tried to picture all of the amazing things that had happened here. I pictured Jesus walking down the beach and calling Peter, Andrew, James, and John. I pictured a storm and boat out on the middle of the water with Jesus on it saying, "Peace. Be still!" and everything becoming as it had been. I pictured Jesus standing on the beach calling out to the disciples to throw their nets on the other side. And I also pictured Jesus stepping out on the water and walking on it and I imagined Peter's courage as he jumped out of the boat to meet him. It was once again incredibly humbling to be sitting in a spot where so many amazing events took place. I will definitely never sing "Theres a Sea of Galilee" or "Peter, James, and John in a sailboat" the same again! :) After breakfast we started our day by going to Nazareth and visiting the traditional place where the people of Nazareth took Jesus to throw him off the cliff. Next we went to the Church of Christ in Nazareth. It was awesome to get to worship with fellow Christians in the place where Jesus spent the majority of his life. While we sang in English they sang the songs in Arabic. It was really cool to hear the blending of these two languages singing for the same reason, to the same God. After spending time with the people for a little while after church and playing with the kids we walked down to the Church of the Annunciation. This is supposedly the place where the angel came to Mary. Outside there was some sort of celebration going on and none of us could figure out what was going on. Then I saw a little boy run past me carrying an olive leaf and it clicked! Palm Sunday! I was in NAZARETH on Palm Sunday!!!! At that point it all became a little too much for me to take in at one time. Everything was finally becoming real in my mind and I had to sit back and take a deep breath and think about what else God had in store for me the rest of the week. The next thing we did was go to the Jesus Boat Museum. This museum houses a boat that was found on the shore of the Sea of Galilee that dates back to the time of Jesus. It gave us a pretty good idea of what the boat that Jesus and the disciples used would have looked like. After this we went to Capernaum. We saw Peter's mother-in-laws house and we read about the story of the centurions servant, and where he healed the little girl and told the family that she wasn't dead she was just asleep. It was really cool to be in yet another place where Jesus performed so many of his miracles. Next we went to the Mount of Beatitudes. We hiked to a spot that could have possibly been similar to the place where Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount. Captain, Griff, and Wil all read the Sermon on the Mount while we sat and took everything in. It was awesome! The next thing we did was take a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. We sailed to the middle of the sea and sang and read different accounts of the Sea of Galilee. It was awesome!

Monday, March 17, 2008
St. Patricks Day!!!! The first thing that we did was visit Qumran. This is the place where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. We only got to see replicas of the scrolls but we'll get to see the real ones at the museum in Jerusalem. The next place we went to was Masada. Before we left for Israel Captain made us all watch the movie of Masada with Peter O'Toole. It was a ridiculous movie but in the end it helped me understand what Masada was all about. If you don't know the story of Masada, look it up. Its depressing but pretty interesting. We ended our day a the Dead Sea! Once getting to our hotel we got our bathing suits on and headed down to the beach. The Dead Sea is the lowest point of the earth and is made up of 33% salt... the ocean is only made up of 3%!!! Because it is so dense all you can do once in the water is float! Captain and DiMy brought us all some Dead Sea mud to put all over ourselves! It made for some pretty funny pictures! :)




I'll write about the Jordan part of our trip and Jerusalem later!!!!! I'll also make a post at the end that is just pictures so you can see everything!!!! Gotta go eat and plan free travel!! I love you all!!